Press Release issued: 14 November 2011.
Three and a half million pounds in extra income has been won for blind or partially sighted people across Scotland - thanks to a telephone helpline staffed by just one man.
Welfare rights officer Paul Barrowman has provided advice and assistance from his Falkirk office to over 900 people. The free service - run by the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland with funding from Standard Life plc - was launched five years ago.
Michael Matheson MSP, within whose Falkirk West constituency the helpline is based, will visit the project this afternoon and talk to Paul and two of his clients.
Paul said: "The benefits system can be very bureaucratic for anyone to get their head round, especially so if you have difficulty seeing. One claim form, for instance, runs to 39 pages. Some people just give up trying to understand it. But this means they can be living in very reduced circumstances, unable to afford basic things they need like heating their home or using public transport."
One of his clients was helped to claim a higher rate of Disability Living Allowance, up from £35 to £61 a week. "This extra money has gone a long way to enabling me to use a taxi to get around," she said. "If Paul hadn't been there to assist me with the forms I don't think I could have applied for this."
Another client is £64.50 a week better off after being informed she could claim Attendance Allowance, "a benefit I never even knew existed or that I was entitled to," she says. "This has made a huge difference to my weekly income."
But with sweeping Government changes that aim to slash up to £18bn from the UK welfare bill, RNIB Scotland fears that more people with sight loss could be pushed into hardship and isolation. An estimated 70 per cent of people with sight loss already live in poverty.
Paul continued: "People with sight loss may be eligible for a range of benefits such as employment support allowance, pension credit and tax credits. These might also qualify you for housing and council tax benefit.
"Many older people are unaware they can claim them because they have not had any dealings with the benefit system as they worked until retirement age."
Other concessions for those registered as blind include free rail and bus travel (and free bus travel for a companion), blind person's tax allowance and 50 per cent off your TV licence fee. People who are partially sighted can apply for free bus and rail travel for themselves.
"Again, these could mean huge savings for people on limited incomes," points out Paul. "But only if you know about them."
With the impending cuts in public spending - and the services they fund - set to really start biting this year, Barrowman foresees welfare benefits being even harder to access, placing advisors like himself under increased pressure. "We will have to become even more adept at making our client's case against ever tighter eligibility criteria in a contracting welfare system," he said.
"Already we have concerns that the tougher medical tests being introduced don't adequately measure someone's vision. One client who was initially refused Disability Living Allowance had his claim immediately reinstated at a tribunal appeal I represented him at because it was so obvious the tests were inadequate.
"We all know we have to reform the system and reduce public debt - but not by making blind and partially sighted people easy targets for savings."
To contact RNIB Scotland's benefits helpline if you are blind or partially sighted, phone 0845 602 4033 on weekdays between 10am and 3pm.